Stories from Tuesday, January 11, 2005

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, concerned about thunderstorms forecast for today and Wednesday, has upgraded its flood-fighting posture as the Mississippi River level continues to rise at Cairo, Ill. The Corps Memphis District has begun more intensive monitoring of levees, floodwalls and pumping stations. It also dispatched nine field workers to Cape Girardeau, eight in Caruthersville, Mo., and eight in Dyersburg, Tenn...

The last time New York contralto and vocal teacher Judith Farris visited Cape Girardeau Murphy's Law went into effect, sabotaging her scheduled performance. It was a small, gray rodent that stopped the October show, postponing it until the next afternoon by shutting down Southeast Missouri State University's power grid...

Snowbound travelers on Interstate 55 near Portageville, Mo., found emergency shelter there thanks to a new disaster relief unit that is forming in Missouri. The U.S. Disaster Relief Command is an military-structured organization that aids victims of natural or man-made disaster. ...

The city of Jackson will hold a conference to provide education about concrete and improve the quality of concrete streets from 8 a.m. to noon on Jan. 20 at city hall. The conference is free. Among the speakers will be Ken Leischeidt of the American Concrete Pavement Association, Larry Kaiser of W.R. Grace & Co., Roger Zipprich of Mineral Resource Technology and Bill Guerdan of SCI Engineering...

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Peyton Manning sees his name alongside some of the great players in NFL history, he beams with pride. Manning's phenomenal season earned him his second straight Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award -- and he came within one vote of being a unanimous choice. He joined the likes of Joe Montana, John Unitas, Steve Young and Kurt Warner as quarterbacks with two MVP awards. Brett Favre is the only player to win it three times...

Jackson's girls basketball team bounced back from its first loss of the season to hammer host New Madrid County Central 73-24 Monday night. The Indians, who fell to Poplar Bluff last week, improved to 12-1. Kylie Werner led Jackson with 18 points, Amanda Peiffer had 14 and Kara Vangilder added 10...

Last week's report that members of a National Guard company was loading equipment at the Southeast Missouri Port Authority near Scott City is yet another reminder that the war in Iraq continues to involve this area and its residents. Members of the 220th Engineering Company of Festus, Mo., whose members are from throughout Southeast Missouri, were loading 100 pieces of equipment that will be used for building roads and runways. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In one of his first acts in office Monday, Gov. Matt Blunt pulled his predecessor's appointment of Bill Foster, a former Southeast Missouri lawmaker, to the Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission. Foster, R-Poplar Bluff, stepped down from his Senate seat four months early after then-governor Bob Holden, a Democrat, named him to the post in September. ...

Bush extends welcome to new Palestinian leader; Lawmakers: U.N. audits ignore key questions ; Schwarzenegger takes hard line on spending; Navy: U.S. nuclear sub struck natural feature; Library of Congress puts Civil War maps on Net

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court steered clear of a dispute over gay adoptions on Monday, energizing conservatives who want other states to copy Florida's one-of-a-kind ban on gays adopting children. In refusing to review the law, justices averted a second showdown over gay rights in two years. The court barred states in 2003 from criminalizing gay sex, a decision that brought strong criticism from conservative and religious groups...

To the editor: I'm not totally aware of the situation with the Kelly High School graduate, but from what I've gathered some young woman wishes to graduate early because she has worked hard to get to where she is. If this young woman is as brilliant as she is made out to be, she will need the extra time to learn in order to prepare herself for the college level. ...

To the editor: I would like to say that previous early graduates at Kelly High School haven't understood the policy either. This year is the only time anyone has spoken up about it. In the past, others were afraid they would get more of their rights taken away...

To the editor: Is the person who wrote "Scripture is clear to nonbelievers" saying Jews, Muslims and Buddhists will die in their beliefs? How can anyone make an argument with Scriptures from a book some of us don't believe? It doesn't make sense. This argument has no effect on me. Let me believe in what I believe...

To the editor: Thomas Widner's letter warned of dire consequences if we attempt to address the needs of Social Security in any way. According to Friday's Wall Street Journal Internet site, many letters just like this appeared across the nation in an obvious organized campaign...

To the editor: When the Missouri Department of Conservation begins planning regulations for the 2005-2006 duck season at Otter Slough, I ask it to revert to the drawing system it had in 2003-2004. During this past 60-day season, every member of a poor-line hunting party at Otter had the right to draw a number, and parties of four had a greater chance of getting out than a lone hunter like me and other folks who hunt the slough...

Joyce A. Johnson, 70, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born June 5, 1934, at Wolf Lake, Ill., daughter of Thomas L. and Donna Lyerla Aldridge Sr. She and Gerald H. Johnson were married May 6, 1956, in Corinth, Miss...

KEWANEE, Mo. -- Terra Paige Bradshaw, daughter of Amy Cossey and Brian Bradshaw of Kewanee, died at birth Saturday, Jan. 8, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. Survivors include her parents; a sister, Billie Jordan of Anniston, Mo.; maternal grandparents, Jim and Shannon Cossey of Anniston, Anita Hogan and Rocky Summers of Alexander City, Ala.; paternal grandparents, Edna Bradshaw of Sikeston and Joe Bradshaw of Bernie, Mo.; maternal great-grandmother, Sue Kennedy of Kellyton, Ala.; paternal great-grandmother, Virginia Sims of New Site, Ala.; maternal great-great-grandmother, Edith Cossey of Wyatt, Mo.; and paternal great-great-grandfather, Hurston Sims of Milton, Fla.. ...

WASHINGTON -- Government scientists have collected millions of dollars in royalties for experimental treatments without having to tell patients testing the treatments that the researchers' had a financial connection, according to documents and interviews...

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- No one is rooting harder for Jim Mora in the NFL playoffs than his dad, the guy whose name he proudly shares. Nothing unusual about that, right? Doesn't every father yearn for his son to be a success in life? Well, in this family, it runs a little deeper than bloodlines...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- They won the Super Bowl of Missouri politics. Now it was party time for Republicans. But forget the swing bands, fireworks and designer chocolates that marked Gov. Bob Holden's inaugural celebration four years ago. Republicans opted for a more modest yet traditional party to celebrate Gov. Matt Blunt's inauguration Monday -- the first time Republicans have controlled the House, Senate and governor's office since 1921...

ST. LOUIS -- It took the St. Louis Rams almost the entire season to learn a new defense. They got the hang of it just in time to make a little playoff run. The Rams held the Seahawks to 20 points in their wild-card playoff victory on Saturday, a week after limiting the Jets to 324 total yards in a regular-season finale win that allowed them to sneak into the postseason with a .500 record. ...

Just two games into the Ohio Valley Conference schedule, it might be way too early to consider any contest a must-win situation. But if Southeast Missouri State University's men have any realistic hopes of challenging for an upper-division OVC finish, it's probably imperative that they beat Eastern Illinois tonight...

After nearly sweeping its league-opening road trip against two premier teams, Southeast Missouri State University coach B.J. Smith knows the natural inclination is to expect an easier time today. So Smith hopes to do everything in his power to guard against a letdown as Southeast plays its first Ohio Valley Conference home game, against Eastern Illinois in a 5 p.m. tipoff at the Show Me Center...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- For a coach who hasn't lost yet in conference play, Missouri's Quin Snyder has a lot of questions about his team's focus. And with a trip to No. 6 Oklahoma State looming, the Tigers have little time to answer them. Missouri opened its Big 12 Conference season with a 62-59 victory over Iowa State on Saturday -- but after the Tigers saw a 13-point second-half lead turn into a 12-point deficit before rallying to win, Snyder wasn't happy...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb had a gift for fixing heart defects in the tiniest patients, and it made him one of the best in the business. But that apparently wasn't good enough for him. Drummond-Webb killed himself Dec. 26 with an overdose of painkillers and bourbon, just three days after what seemed like another medical miracle: the successful use of a miniature heart pump that kept a 14-year-old boy alive until an organ became available for transplant...

LA CONCHITA, Calif. -- A huge mudslide crashed down on homes in a coastal hamlet with terrifying force Monday, killing at least one person and leaving up to 12 missing as a Pacific storm hammered Southern California for a fourth straight day. Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bob Roper said at least six and as many as a dozen residents were missing in the mudslide that pummeled a four-block area of homes in tiny La Conchita, about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles. ...

ST. LOUIS -- All dressed up with no place to go because of a work stoppage into its second week, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is trumpeting plans to stage a benefit concert for victims of the tsunami that ravaged South Asia two weeks ago. With management's blessings, the ensemble that on Jan. 3 launched its first work stoppage in a quarter century will hold a fund-raiser performance Friday in University City, the symphony's chief contract negotiator said Monday...

NEW YORK -- Video rental chain Hollywood Entertainment Corp. has agreed to a buyout offer of about $850 million from rival Movie Gallery in a deal that would create a stronger challenger to industry leader Blockbuster. But in a sign that Wall Street is betting the fight for Hollywood Entertainment may not be over, investors pushed its shares well above the offered price in early trading...

GM to cut U.S. work force again in 2005; State Farm to pay $40 million in settlement; Grocery tops Fortune's list of best employers

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Detectives from around mid-Missouri chased dozens of leads Monday in the death of a retired University of Missouri-Columbia professor, found stabbed to death in the trunk of his burning car. Firefighters discovered the body of Jeong Hyok Im, 72, while responding Friday to a vehicle fire in the school's Maryland Avenue parking garage. Im is the first homicide victim on the campus of the state's largest university in 16 years...

BILLINGS, Mont. -- A cattlemen's group sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday to stop it from allowing live cattle and expanded beef imports from Canada, which confirmed a new case of mad cow disease this month. The lawsuit says the USDA's plan would pose a risk to consumers and U.S. producers...

Part of the prepared text of Gov. Matt Blunt's inaugural speech, delivered Monday at the state Capitol: My fellow Missourians, I am grateful for the confidence you have placed in me. I sought this office knowing that the generous and able support of my fellow citizens would help me shoulder the many grave responsibilities that accompany the honor of leading this great state...

ANNA, Ill. -- Opal Pearlene Toler, 92, of Anna died Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005, at City Care Center. She was born Sept. 14, 1912, in Anna, daughter of William and Mary Corzine Hileman. She and Oley M. Toler were married Nov. 11, 1931, in Dongola, Ill. He died Feb. 2, 1998...

WYATT, Mo. -- Carl E. Sloan, 54, of Wyatt died Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005, at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He was born May 23, 1950, at Wyatt, son of Zingo and Roberta Branch Sloan. Sloan was a graduate of Charleston High School at Charleston, Mo., and served in the U.S. Army...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Bill Caldwell looked on approvingly as Democrat Robin Carnahan was sworn in as secretary of state. But he couldn't bear to watch what happened next. Caldwell, a leader of Buchanan County's Democratic committee, turned and left Monday before Republican Matt Blunt took the oath of office as governor...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A southwest Missouri man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to threatening to kill President Bush. Darrel David Alford , 56, of Buffalo admitted he threatened on Aug. 4 to fly a bomb-laden model airplane into an arena or stadium where Bush would be speaking. ...

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- A St. Charles police officer is recovering after being struck in the head while making an arrest, police said Monday. The name of the officer was not released. The suspect, Kenneth G. Wacker, 33, of Maryland Heights was charged with second-degree assault of a law enforcement officer and felony resisting arrest. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Almost everything on school lunch menus is government commodity. But that doesn't mean it has to taste bad. School food service workers consider it a personal challenge to prepare and serve the food in a way that ensures children get needed nutrition and -- here's the kicker -- like the food...

ROLLA, Mo. -- Lucie Johannes isn't a rocket scientist; she is the person the rocket scientists go to for help figuring out what went wrong. Johannes did failure analysis for NASA from August to December, a job that required a vast knowledge of material science, engineering and metallurgy...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A new biohazard detection system at the city's mail processing center will protect employees and customers from an anthrax attack like the ones that shook the nation soon after Sept. 11, 2001, postal officials said Monday. The system, to be installed Jan. ...

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian Authority president by a landslide, results showed Monday, giving the pragmatist a mandate to resume peace talks with Israel -- but also leaving him with the tough task of reining in powerful armed groups...

CAIRO, Egypt -- Questions about why Arabs would want nuclear weapons are usually answered with one word: Israel. But the latest allegations about Arab nuclear ambitions -- involving Egypt -- are a reminder of the inadequacies of simple answers in an uncertain and unstable part of the world...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb destroyed a second heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle in less than a week Monday, killing two U.S. soldiers, wounding four others and indicating that insurgents have increased the power of the explosives they are using against American troops...

NEW YORK -- CBS issued a damning independent review Monday of mistakes related to last fall's "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush's National Guard service and fired three news executives and a producer for their "myopic zeal" in rushing it on the air...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Ushering in the first Republican-dominated Missouri government in 84 years, Gov. Matt Blunt vowed immediate change after his inauguration Monday as the state's 54th governor. In ending 12 years of Democratic control of the governor's office and bolstering the Republican majorities in the legislature, Blunt said Missourians mandated a new direction and tone for state government...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder plans to be actively involved in the new administration of Gov. Matt Blunt, a fellow Republican. Shortly after taking the oath of office as Missouri's 46th lieutenant governor, Kinder said his role in Blunt's administration hasn't yet been defined but that during a recent meeting the state's top two officials agreed to work as partners...

Even a year after the nation's first law was passed to curtail junk e-mail, it's still "delete, delete, delete" for Cape Girardeau resident Nathan Cromwell every time he logs onto his Internet e-mail account. "It just keeps getting worse," said Cromwell, who spent Monday afternoon at Grace Cafe checking his e-mail, which he estimated 90 percent of which was spam. "I got 80 messages and 65 to 70 of them were spam."...

With strings of bright lights, rows of trailers offering tempting prizes for games of skill, dizzying rides, and the tantalizing smells of hot, greasy food, a carnival can turn a bare field into a magical world of fun and intrigue. In spite of the colorful lights, carnivals can have a dark side...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Legislation protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination passed the Illinois Senate on Monday without a vote to spare. The measure, which passed 30-27, now goes to the Illinois House. The House has backed the idea in past years, and supporters predict the discrimination ban will pass today...

Yushchenko announced official winner of election; Indonesia urges aid groups to make lists of workers; Smoking ban takes effect in cigarette-loving Italy; Israeli parliament approves new Sharon government; Cuba: Formal ties with all of Europe re-established

Vivian I. Burton, 76, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Jan. 10, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Charlene Evelyn Bush, 77, of Jonesboro died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005, at her home. She was born Dec. 13, 1927, in Alto Pass, Ill., daughter of Clifford Angus and Hazel Beatrice Tellor Rhodes. She and Charles Isaac Bush were married March 13, 1948...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Cora Claudette Learue, 68, of Sikeston died Saturday, Jan. 8, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born March 5, 1936, in Scott County, daughter of Claude and Wilma Madison Dirickson. She and James M. Learue were married Dec. 3, 1974, at New Madrid, Mo. He died Oct. 11, 1995...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- LaVerne V. Phillips, 69, of Perryville died Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005, at her home. She was born Nov. 8, 1935, in Perry County, daughter of William L. and Ida Welker Brown. She and Joseph H. Phillips were married May 19, 1956, in Perryville. He died Feb. 2, 1999...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Linley Wayne Forbis, 79, of St. Louis, formerly of Sikeston, died Monday, Jan. 10, 2005, at his home. He was born Jan. 27, 1925, in Holts Summit, Mo., son of Fred M. and Hester Windsor Forbis. He and Virginia Vaughan were married Nov. 24, 1949, in Sikeston...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Harold Melvin Caldwell, 77, of Sikeston died Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Dec. 15, 1927, in Sikeston, son of Early Ernest and Beulah Calvin Caldwell. He had been a truck driver with Armour Moving and Van Storage, and was a member of American Legion Post 114...

25 years ago: Jan. 11, 1980 Formal approval for initiation of a new program at the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School that will train skilled building tradesmen should come at the February meeting of the school board; between 36 and 40 pupils will be involved in the two classes beginning with the 1980-1981 school year...

Coffel; Kluesner; Lohman; Snider; Sievers; Blevins

A great show; Quiet conversations; Tough action on trash; And now a movie?; Same certification; Considerate driving; Safe and friendly; Collective shame; The rude factor; Volunteers take pride; Wrong priorities; Privatization doom; Shortage of subjects; Tip of the iceberg; Dangerous crossing

Baseball...

Students at May Watts Elementary School in Chicago held an emergency meeting last week to discuss something that's been tugging at them since winter break: how to raise funds for tsunami victims. They considered having a hot cocoa stand or a bake sale at their school in Naperville, just outside Chicago, but settled on a "loose change" drive, which began Jan. ...

You know, sometimes the Internet can be a scary thing. Actually, it's scary all the time now. I can no longer just get online and check my e-mail without 6,000 pop-up ads asking me which actress is Jennifer Aniston so that I may win a free tropical vacation...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released Monday by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests * David Ray Douthit, 35, 4062 Flad Ave., St. Louis, was arrested on a city warrant for making a false declaration, driving under suspension and stop sign violation...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following item on Sunday: * At 9:51 p.m., emergency medical service in the 2400 block of Brookwood Drive. Firefighters responded to the following items on Monday: * At 8:33 a.m., emergency medical service in the 1400 block of North Mount Auburn Road...

It's tough being a parent. Not only do you have to raise your children, you have to do all those household chores too -- from laundry to dishes. Getting children to help isn't easy. They're often too busy hanging out in their bedrooms playing video games or watching television to lift a finger...